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Effect of exercise intensity on cerebrospinal fluid interleukin-6 concentration during recovery from exhaustive exercise in rats
No full textThe purpose of this study was to investigate the possible role of moderate and strenuous swimming training on plasma and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) IL-6 (interleukin-6) levels during recovery from exhaustive exercise in rats. Wistar rats were divided into three groups: sedentary control (C), moderately trained (MT) and strenuously trained (ST). MT rats underwent swimming exercise for one hour/day and 5 days/week for 8 weeks. Animals in the ST group began swimming with 1 h/day and swimming duration was progressively increased by 30 min/wk, reaching 2.5 h/day by week 4 and stayed constant for an additional 4 weeks. After all animals underwent an acute exhaustive swimming exercise, animals were divided into 3 groups, and decapitated immediately, 24 and 48 hours after exhaustion to obtain tissue samples. Muscle citrate synthase activity, plasma and CSF IL-6 levels were determined. The citrate synthase activity was found to be higher in MT and ST groups compared to the C group. Although plasma IL-6 levels were found unaltered among all groups, the CSF IL-6 concentration was found to be increased 24 hours after exhaustive exercise of the ST group. We conclude that exercise training intensity is an important factor determining cerebrospinal IL-6 concentration after exhaustive exercise
Cardiovascular results of an individually controlled complex prevention
No full textLifestyle modifications (increased level of physical activity, favourable nutrition, and stress management) are important factors in the prevention of and the therapy for cardiovascular (CV) disease
The effect of omega-3 on cognition in hypothyroid adult male rats
No full textThyroid hormones and omega-3 are essential for normal brain functions. Recent studies have suggested that omega-3 may protect against the risk of dementia. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of hypothyroidism on spatial learning and memory in adult male rats, the underlying mechanisms and the possible therapeutic value of omega-3 supplementation. Thirty male rats were divided into three groups; control, hypothyroid and omega-3 treated. Hypothyroidism induced significant deficits in working and reference memories in radial arm maze, retention deficits in passive avoidance test and impaired intermediate and long-term memories in novel object recognition test. Serum total antioxidant capacity (TAC) and hippocampal serotonin and γ-aminobutyric acid (GABA) levels were decreased in the hypothyroid group as compared to the control group. Moreover, the hippocampus of hypothyroid rats showed marked structural changes as diffuse vacuolar degeneration and distortion of the pyramidal cells. Immunohistochemistry showed that the expression of Cav1.2 (the voltage dependent LTCC alpha 1c subunit) protein was increased in the hypothyroid group as compared to the control group. Omega-3 supplementation ameliorated memory deficits, increased TAC, decreased the structural changes and decreased the expression of Cav1.2 protein. In conclusion omega-3 could be useful as a neuroprotective agent against hypothyroidism-induced cognitive impairment
Protective effect of ghrelin in a rat model of celiac disease
No full textGhrelin is a gut hormone shown to have protective effects throughout the gastrointestinal tract. This study aims to investigate its protective effect in celiac disease induced in rats. Twenty-four rat pups were divided into 4 groups as follows: control, disease (1.5 mg/g intragastric gliadin), co-treatment (50 ng/g intraperitoneal ghrelin after gliadin gavage) and pretreatment (50 ng/g intraperitoneal ghrelin before gliadin gavage). Animals’ weight gain was charted. Histological features assessed include villus length, villus width, crypt depth and number of intraepithelial lymphocytes. Tissue interferon-gamma was quantified by ELISA. ANOVA was used to compare results statistically. Results showed that villi were shortened in the diseased group, but were as long as the control in pretreatment and co-treatment groups. Crypt depth had increased in disease group, but turned to normal in co-treatment group. Number of intraepithelial lymphocytes was significantly higher in disease group than the control, while no difference was observed between co-treatment and control groups. Disease and control animals weighed equally at the end of the experiment, but ghrelin-treated animals had significantly gained more weight than these two. Interferon-gamma measurement revealed no significant difference among groups. We concluded administration of ghrelin led to histological improvement of celiac disease which was more obvious if administered after exposure to gliadin
The analysis of transduction mechanisms associated with an acute action of homocysteine on isolated rat femoral artery
No full textThe present study was undertaken in order to examine transduction mechanism involved in the single application of 100 μM homocysteine (Hcy) on isolated rat femoral artery (RFA) rings equilibrated on the basal tone; to establish if a single application of 100 μM Hcy alters contractile effect of phenylephrine (Phe), or oppositely the relaxant effect of acetylcholine (ACh) or bradykinin (BK) after 60-min-long incubation of 100 μM Hcy; and finally to identify morphological changes on the vascular wall after a 24-h-long incubation of 100 μM Hcy. Hcy produced contractile response of intact RFA, which was increased after endothelial denudation, while decreased by urapidil (an α1 receptor blocker), nifedipine (a voltage-gated L-type Ca++ channel blocker) or indomethacin (a cyclooxygenase inhibitor). The initial RFA contraction evoked by Phe was further increased by the single addition of Hcy, which was not the case when ouabain (an inhibitor of Na+/K+-ATPase) was preincubated. After 60-min-long incubation of Hcy relaxant actions of ACh and BK were unaltered, equieffective and equipotent. A 24-h-long incubation of RFA rings with Hcy produced an impairment of vascular endothelium, expressed as a minor or more pronounced interruption of endothelial cells
Dose dependent effects of serotonergic agents on anxiety
No full textThe role of serotonin in depression and anxiety is still highly controversial. In this experiment the effect of two substances upon anxiety was studied in rats. Methods:
Forty adult (45–55 weeks old) male Wistar rats were used to
study the following behavioral parameters on elevated plus maze test: open arm and closed arm entries; open arm,
closed arm and central square activity duration, open arm preference and total distance traveled.
Results:
A single
injected dose of the antidepressant fluoxetine had no significant effect on animals` activity in the open-arm test,
neither in a small dosage (5 mg/kgbw) nor in a higher one (10 mg/kgbw), whereas a single high dose of buspirone
significantly impeded the open-arm activity of the rats. None of the substances influenced the general locomotor
activity significantly, but the higher doses of buspirone mainly blocked the closed-arm entries and they even
decreased the total distance traveled.
Conclusion:
Acute fluoxetine and buspirone administration influenced the rats’
behavior in the elevated plus-maze test in a dose dependent manner. Anxiolytic effects occur after small doses but
anxiogenic-like effects were noticed in rodents when higher doses were used.
Keywords:
elevated plus-maze, anxiolytic, anxiogenic, antidepressant, serotoner
gic syste
Purification and characterization of a novel toxin from Bipolaris sorokiniana, causing spot blotch of wheat and analysis of variability in the pathogen
No full textBipolaris sorokiniana, causal agent of spot blotch of wheat is a hemibiotrophic pathogen. This fungus produced a toxin in culture that induced necrosis not only in wheat but also in barley, sorghum and some weeds. The toxic compound purified by prep TLC from culture filtrate of virulent strain BS-75, characterized using NMR and GC-MS techniques, was identified to be ‘Bipolaroxin’, which is a first report of its production by B. sorokiniana infecting wheat. It is a bicyclical sesquiterpene belonging to family Eremophilane. Besides producing necrotic lesions on wheat, toxin (30 ng/ml) caused necrotic lesions on barley, maize, sorghum, Phalaris minor, Avena sativa and Cynodon dactylon as studied using leaf infiltration bioassay. Qualitative and quantitative differences among the pathogenically variable isolates were observed with respect to toxin production by TLC and HPLC. Different isolates produced bipolaroxin in the range of 0.05 µg/ml (BS-41) to 1.4 µg/ml (BS-75)
Characterization and molecular mapping of a soft glume mutant in diploid wheat (Triticum monococcum L.)
No full textDiploid wheat T. monococcum L. is a model plant for wheat functional genomics. A soft glume mutant was identified during manual screening of EMS-treated M2 progenies of a T. monococcum accession pau14087. The seeds in the mature spike of the mutant could be easily threshed manually. The soft glume mutant with high sterility, tapering and broader spikes had also tougher rachis than the wild type parent. Genetic analysis of crosses of the mutant with wild type indicated that the mutant was monogenic recessive. To map the soft glume mutant, a mapping population was developed by crossing the soft glume mutant with wild Triticum boeoticum acc. pau 5088, having tough glumes and hard threshing. The soft glume mutant was mapped between SSR markers Xgwm473 and Xbarc69 on 7AmL chromosome of T. monococcum, with a genetic distance of 1.8 cM and 8.3 cM, respectively. The soft glum mutant mapped on 7AmL, being distinct from a previously mapped soft glume mutant in wheat, has been designated as sog2. The work on fine mapping of sog2 gene is in progress
Allelic variation in Glu-1 and Glu-3 loci of bread wheat (Triticum aestivum ssp. aestivum L. em. Thell.) germplasm cultivated in Algeria
No full textWheat endosperm storage proteins are the major components of gluten. They play an important role in dough properties and in bread making quality in various wheat varieties. In the present study, the different alleles encoded at the 6 glutenin loci were identified from a set of 71 hexaploid wheat germplasm cultivated in Algeria using SDS-PAGE. At Glu-A1, Glu-B1 and Glu-D1, encoding high molecular weight glutenin subunits (HMW-GS), 3, 6 and 5 alleles were observed, respectively. Low molecular weight glutenin subunits (LMW-GS) displayed similar polymorphism, as 4, 9 and 3 alleles were identified at loci Glu-A3, Glu-B3 and Glu-D3, respectively. A total of 52 patterns resulted from the genetic combination of the alleles encoding at the six glutenin loci. This led to a significantly higher Nei coefficient of genetic variation in Glu-1 and Glu-3 loci (0.54). The Algerian hexaploid wheats exhibited allelic variation in HMW and LMW glutenin subunit composition and the variation differed from that of hexaploid wheats of other countries. The presence of high quality alleles in glutenin loci have led the Algerian wheat cultivars to be considered as an asset in breeding programs aimed for wheat quality